Orientations toward Privacy in Hong Kong

Abstract

This research used factor analysis to determine orientations toward privacy among the urban adult Chinese in Hong Kong. A questionnaire of 60 items dealing with different possible types of privacy was administered to a random sample of 355 people. Five major factors based on 21 of these 60 items emerged from the factor analysis. The context of these factors centered on a desire for solitude, a concern for information collecting by the government, a need to escape the presence of friends and relatives, the control of domestic living space, and regulation of the flow of personal information to outsiders. The nature of the relationship between preferences for these types of privacy and indicators of density, age of respondents, length of residence in Hong Kong, and experience of living in rural environment was examined by multiple regression analysis. Among other things, the results of this effort provided some support for the notion that high density acts to reduce the preference for privacy.